John Horn, freshly back from the Sundance Film Festival, talks with Kim about the state of the film market there. With the festival still going on, many movies have been picked up for distribution. Here are some of the notable sales: The Way, Way Back, a comedy by the co-writers of The Descendents, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon sold to Fox Searchlight for $10 million-- as of now the largest ticket price at the Festival. Austenland-- the first film to be produced by Stephenie Meyer's new production company (she's the author of the Twilight saga)-- was another big sale at the festival going for between $4 and $5 million to Sony. And the documentary about back-up singers, Twenty Feet from Stardom, was reportedly a crowd pleaser which sold to Radius-TWC. Horn says that many movies were bought for between $1-$3 million indicating a healthy market. He speculates that while most will get theatrical runs it could be on alternative VOD and streaming platforms that they get the most viewers.
Below is a list of the films that have been purchased so far and by who (compiled by the New York Times).
– The Way, Way Back — Fox Searchlight
– Austenland — Sony
– Don Jon’s Addiction — Relativity
– Toy’s House — CBS Films
– Lovelace — Radius-TWC
– Fruitvale — Weinstein Company
– The Spectacular Now — A24
– Prince Avalanche — Magnolia
– Twenty Feet from Stardom — Radius-TWC
– Kill Your Darlings — Sony
– Two Mothers — Exclusive Releasing
– We Are What We Are — eOne
– Blackfish — CNN Films and Magnolia
– Jobs — Open Road
– Inequality for All — Radius-TWC
– Who Is Dayani Cristal? — Mundani
– The Look of Love — IFC Films
– Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer — HBO
– History of the Eagles — Showtime
– Dirty Wars — Sundance Selects
– The Summit — Sundance Selects
– Concussion — Radius-TWC